Art of making stiffeners for boots and shoes.



P. W. SHAW & A. F. LITTLEFIELD. ART OF MAKING STIFFENERS FOR 5001s ANDSHOES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 9]6: v I 1,256,937. Patented Feb.19,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Fig.1. 70/7191 APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, I916.

Patented Feb.

2 SHEETS -SHEET 2.

PERCY W. SHAW AND AUGUSTINE F. LI

TTLEFIELD, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNOBS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COR- PORATION,0F PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ART OF MAKING STIFFENERS FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PERCY W. SHAW and AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEFIELD,citizens of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essexand State of Massachusetts,

have invented certain Improvements in the Art of Making Stifi'eners forBoots and Shoes, of which the following description, in connection withthe accompanying drawings, is a specification, like referencecharacterson the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a method of cutting material into articles theedges of which are beveled, and particularly to cuttin from stockcertain parts used in the manu acture of bootsand shoes.

For convenience the description will be 1 limited to a method of cuttingcounters from leather stock, but it should be understoodthat' theinvention may be employed in making similar articles, for example boxtoes, from any suitable material.

Hitherto it has been customary to die out counter blanks from a piece ofleather and then to run the died out blanks through a skiving machine inorder to give them a continuous beveled edge. There is a large amount ofwaste involved in carrying out this procedure; and to re uce this wastewas one of the objects of the method of the patent to Engel No.1,068,489 in which two series of counters were dipped out of a piece ofleather, one series from the flesh side and the other series from thegrain side. This method results in a large saving of stock, but has thedisadvantage that half of the counters produced are flesh counters. Suchcounters are not desirable to the trade and for various reasons do notfind a ready Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 19, 1918.Application filed May 12,

1916. Serial No. 97,205.

by the removal of the stifi'eners is less than the sum of the heights ofthe stifleners.

Another feature of the invention relates to the article produced by theprocess which has been outlined above.

These and other features of the invention will be described inconnection with an illustratlve machine by which an exemplary method maybe carried out and will be pointed out in the appended claims.

. Referring now to the accompanying draw- 1ngs,

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of an illustrative machine by which themethod may be carried out;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in section of the rolls, knife and presserytherolls being in angular position to permit a piece of stock to be removedfrom the machine;

.Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the relative positions of the rolls andpresser at the beginning of the feed movement;

Fig. 4 is a similar view after the rolls have advanced approximatelyninety 1 degrees from the position shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a frontelevation of the rolls and presser in the positions shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a similar view with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4.In Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 the first counter is being cut.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but showing the position of partsduring the cutting of the second and subsequent counters, in which thepresser holds up the beveled edge of the stock.- I

Fig. 8 is a plan showing how the counters lie in the stock;

Fig. 9 is a plan of the second and subsequent counters all of which havea small area of flesh on the grain side.

The frame 1 has two overhanging arms 3 and 5. In alined hearings in theupper arm and in the main part of the frame is mounted a shaft 7 towhich is fast at one end a matrix r0119 and near the other end two gears11 and 13, the former gear meshing with a gear 15 on a suitable drivingshaft having mounted thereon the usual fast and loose pulleys 17, 19. Inhearings in the frame and in a yoke 21, the stem of which is yieldinglysupported in a socket formed in the lower arm 5, is rotatably mounted atwo-part shaft 23 having fast to it a die roll 25. The parts of theshaft 23 are connected by an Oldham coupling 27 the inner portion of theshaft 23 having at its inner end a gear 29 which meshes with the gear13. An adjusting sleeve 31 threaded into the socket in the lower arm 5,and a stop nut 33 threaded on the reduced lower end of the stem of theyoke 21 furnish means for varying the tension of the spring 35 and forlimiting the extent of upward movement of the yoke. A stationary knife37 is held in adjusted position by 'a pinch bolt 39. I

With this construction a portion of a piece of stock presented to therolls will be forced into the matrix in the upper roll, and as the stockis advanced a stifiener or other article having the shape of the matrixwill be cut from the stock. The use of a die roll, a matrix roll and aknife for producing article's of a desired shape is old, andtheparticular construction illustrated will not be described furtherexcept to state that the shape of the matrix illustrated is such that acounter stiffener of the general outline shown in Figs. 8 and 9 having athick middle portion and a continuous beveled edge is produced.Attentionis directed, however, tothe construction and arrangement of thebearings of the rotary shafts which carry the rolls whereby a free andunobstructed space is provided which extends in all directions in ahorizontal plane between ,the rolls. With this construction it ispossible to operate upon a piece of stock in a locality close to orremote from the margin thereof. This is a particularly desirable featuresince it permits the operator to select the locality from which thecounter is to be dipped out.

The present machine is adapted, among other uses, to out counters frompieces of.

stock which have irregular outlines; and

. such pieces may be freely presented so as to form the counters by cutsextending in various directions with respect to any given piece.

Grdinarily a series of counters are cut from a selected locality, asillustrated in Fig. 8, in which the first counter produced is the one atthe extreme left, the second, the next at the right, and so on. Toaccomplish this, the piece of leather 100 isfed between the rolls in thedirection indicated by the arrow once for each counter produced. Thecounters are thus. cut one at a time, and the base of each counter, asit lies in the stock, underlies the top of the next preceding oneexcept, of course, that of the first counter. The result is that aseries of counters are dipped out of the same sidethat is the grainside-of the stock, of which the first is a perfect grain counter whilethose which follow each have a small portion of flesh surface caused bythe overlap After the first counter has been dipped out a beveled edgeis produced around the hole indicated by the dotted line 41 whichextends upwardly to the edge 43 of the cavity from which the counter hasbeen removed. It will be'seen that a part of the right-hand portion ofthis beveled edge is to form a part of the second counter. If, however,after the removal of the first counter, the piece of leather were fedthrough the rolls without further mechanism than has been described, apart of this. beveled portion would hang down in the ipath of the knifeand be cut off. By referring to Fig. 6, which illustrates the cuttingout of the first counter and in which the line of cutis indicated at 45,it will be seen that the right-hand edge of the leather is of uniformthicknessand that consequently the upper or grain side of that portionof .the leather which is to be cut out to form a counter is forcedfirmly up against the bottom of the matrix in the upper roll at thatpoint as well as at all other points. Referring now to' Fig. 7, in whichthe cutting out of the second counter is shown, the right-hand edge ofthe leather isno longer of uniform thickness with the rest but isbeveled or tapered and consequently would hang down more or less out ofcontact with the bottom of the matrix in the upper roll unless provisionwere made for supporting it and pressing it into the matrix.

' may be moved toward each other by pressure. Normally, when no stock.is between the rolls the presser projects, as has been explained. Whenthe stock is first fed to the rolls the presser is depressed toinoperative position as shown in Fig. 6, but thereafter, during thecutting out of the remaining counters of the series, it supports thebeveled edge of the stock as illustrated in Fig. 7. As best shown inFig. 2, the rolls 9 and 25 have cut away portions which register once inevery revolution.

In the .operation the machine is brought to rest with the rolls in theposition shown in Fig. 2 in which a piece'of stock may be placed betweenthe rolls and moved about as desired in order to permit the operator toselect the locality from which the first coun: ter is to be dipped out.After the cutting out of the first counter the stock is pulled back andmoved sidewise, or in the direction of the height of the counter, aproper distance, and then the second counter is cut out. The countersare thus cut out from the grain side of the stock one at a time, in thedirection of their length in such a manner that as they lie in thestock, they overlap as shown in Fig. 8. After a series of counters hasbeen cut out, the stock may be moved in any desired direction to presentanew locality to the rolls and knife.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in the art of making stifleners which consists indipping out a stiffener from one side of a piece of stock and thendipping out from the same side a second stiffener in such manner thatthe distance between the twoextreme edges of the cavities produced bythe removal of the stifi'eners is less than the sum of the heights ofthe stifl'eners. 1

2. That improvement-in the art of making stifi'eners which consists indipping out from one side of a piece of stock a series of stifieners insuch manner that as they lie in the stock the top of each stiffeneroverlies the bottom of the next succeeding stiffener.

3. That improvement in the art of making stiffeners which consists indipping out from one side of a piece of stock a series of stifieners insuch manner that the distance between the opposite edges of the firstand last cavities producedby the removal of the stifl'eners is less thanthe sum of the heights of all the stiifeners.

4. That improvement in the art of making stiifeners which consist indipping out a stiffener from the grain side of a piece of leather andthen dipping out from the same side a second stiffener in such mannerthat the distance between the two extreme edges of the cavities producedby the removal of the stifi'eners is less than the sum of the height ofthe stifieners.

5. That improvement in the art of mak-- ing stifi'eners which consistsin dipping out from the grain side of a piece of leather a series ofstifieners in such manner that as they lie in the stock the top of eachstifi'ener overlies the bottom of the succeeding stiffener.

6. A stiffener having a substantially straight bottom and a curved top,there being a bevel on one side extending around the curved top and abevel on the other side extending along the straight bottom.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

PERCY W. SHAW. AUGUSTINE F. LITTLEFIELD.

